Canaan’s Post-IPO Stock Plunge Reveals Sales Slump, Price War With Bitmain

“The stock price has declined in all but four of the first 17 trading sessions since the Hangzhou-based company’s Nov. 21 sale of $90 million of U.S. shares. It’s down 35 percent since the start of last week.

“Canaan’s performance is being closely monitored in the cryptocurrency industry. It was the first big maker of data-mining computers to sell shares publicly and its valuation serves many investors as a sector bellwether. The shares have tumbled even as the price of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has been mostly stable over the past month, currently around $6,500.

“Its stock price drop is taking place ‘as bitcoin miners face a challenging environment,’ wrote research firm TradeBlock in a report last week. CoinDesk reached out to Canaan’s management but no response was received as of press time.

“Industry executives say the big makers of bitcoin-mining computers, colloquially known as ‘rigs,’ are in a sales slump. That’s a surprising development since many observers predicted a frenzy of upgrades ahead of bitcoin’s once-every-four-years mining-reward halving, expected in May. When that happens, the reward for successfully mining a new block of data will get cut in half. It’s widely expected that prior-generation mining rigs will become unprofitable for operators who don’t have access to unusually cheap electricity. 

“Bitmain, the dominant industry player, recently announced a series of sales incentives to move backlogged or stale inventory, including promising limited price guarantees to buyers willing to commit to bulk purchases and in some cases renting out second-tier mining rigs under profit-sharing agreements…”